Val pov(first person point of view)
I stepped back into the corridor.
The five doors were still there.
Silent.
Waiting.
For a moment, I stood there, staring at them.
My mind drifted back to the cafeteria.
To the sound I heard before I left.
That faint movement in the kitchen.
Metal against metal.
Something shifting.
Something that might still be there.
I didn’t want to think about it.
So I didn’t.
Whatever had made that noise was behind me now, and I had no intention of going back to find out.
“Yeah.” I muttered quietly.
“Not doing that.”
Instead, I focused on the doors.
Five of them.
I had already entered two.
The first door had been the barracks.
The second had been the cafeteria.
So what was the third one?
If I was going to explore this place properly, I might as well keep things organized.
“…Third one it is.” I muttered quietly.
The door directly next to me.
Simple enough.
“…Alright.”
Round three.
I walked over and pushed it open.
The moment I stepped through-
The environment changed again.
But this time-
I stopped immediately.
“…Wait.”
I blinked.
Then blinked again.
Because what I saw in front of me made absolutely no sense.
I was standing inside a large estate.
Not a ruined building.
Not a bunker.
Not a maze of concrete corridors.
An estate.
Tall walls.
Wide hallways.
Polished floors.
Decorative pillars.(Pillars are tall vertical columns that support a building’s ceiling or structure. Decorative pillars means they are also designed to look elegant or stylish, not just hold the building up.)
Furniture placed neatly along the walls.
And the moment my brain finished processing what I was looking at-
A strange sense of familiarity crept in.
“…No way.”
My eyes slowly scanned the hallway.
The layout.
The decorations.
The staircase visible in the distance.
“…That looks like-”
Sylvarius’s estate.
Or at least…
Something that looked extremely close to it.
I stood there for a moment, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Because the resemblance was undeniable.
The general layout was incredibly similar.
The furniture placement looked almost identical.
The staircase sat in roughly the same position.
Even some of the wall decorations looked familiar.
But the longer I looked-
The more something felt wrong.
Subtly wrong.
My eyes narrowed slightly as I studied the space more carefully.
“…Hold on.”
The furniture.
At first glance it looked like it was arranged exactly the way Sylvarius had it.
But when I looked closer-
The angles were off.
A couch that should have been perfectly parallel with the wall was slightly tilted.(Parallel means two things run in the same direction and never meet. Tilted means leaning at an angle. The sentence means the couch should be straight along the wall, but it is slightly crooked.)
A table that should have sat evenly between two pillars leaned just a little too far to one side.(Evenly between means placed exactly in the center of two objects. The sentence means the table should be perfectly centered between the pillars, but it is slightly off to one side.)
Like someone had recreated the estate from memory…
But got the measurements slightly wrong.
Then I noticed something else.
The doorways.
They were bigger.
Not massively bigger-
But enough that it felt noticeable.
The frames were wider.
Taller.
Like the proportions had been stretched.(Proportions means the size relationship between parts of something. The sentence means things like doors and walls are larger and wider than they should be compared to normal human buildings.)
My eyes moved upward.
And that’s when the ceiling caught my attention.
“…That’s abit higher than usual isn't it?”
A little higher than it should have been.
The ceiling stretched far above the floor, far more than any normal estate needed.
It made the whole space feel oddly vertical.
Unnaturally tall.
Almost like the building had been designed for something larger than ordinary people.
Then I looked at the floor.
And that’s when the final piece clicked.
The symmetry.
The decorative patterns in the marble tiles.
At first they looked normal.
But the longer I stared-
The more distorted they became.
Lines that should have been straight bent slightly.
Patterns that should have been evenly spaced were uneven.(Evenly spaced means each pattern has the same distance between them. The sentence means the floor design is slightly wrong, with gaps that are too big or too small.)
Like the entire estate had been built with familiar pieces…
But assembled incorrectly.
Not broken.
Just… wrong.
“…Okay,” I murmured.
“So this definitely isn’t Sylvarius’s place.”
It looked like it.
But it clearly wasn’t the same building.
Which meant the simplest explanation was probably the correct one.
This estate belonged to someone else.
Just like the cafeteria had belonged to someone in this strange version of Daemina.
Same world. Different version. Different history.
At least, that was my working theory right now.
Still.
Standing here in this twisted imitation of a familiar place felt strange.
Almost like walking through a memory that had been slightly corrupted.
I shifted my backpack slightly and prepared to start exploring.
But before I even took a single step-
Something on the floor caught my eye.
“…Huh?”
I frowned and looked down.
Small dark spots dotted the marble floor near the entrance.(Dotted means small spots scattered across a surface. The sentence means tiny blood drops were spread across the floor in different places.)
At first I thought it might just be stains.
Or dirt.
But the color made my stomach tighten slightly.
Dark red.
I crouched slightly to get a better look.
“…That’s blood.”
No question about it.
Dried blood.
Not the thick black fluid those creatures left behind.
This was red.
Human red. Or some other race.
Or at least something close enough to it.
The droplets weren’t random either.
They formed a trail.(A trail is a line or path that shows where something moved. The sentence means the blood drops show the path of someone who was bleeding while moving through the hall.)
Small splashes.
Tiny spots.
Scattered across the floor.
As if someone had been running.
Running while bleeding.
My eyes followed the trail across the hallway.
It stretched farther into the estate.
Turning slightly as it disappeared around a corner deeper inside the building.
“…Recently too.”
The blood had dried, but it didn’t look ancient.
Not like the dust-covered surfaces in the kitchen.
This looked… fresher.
Not wet.
But recent enough that it hadn’t completely faded into the floor yet.
Which meant one thing.
Someone had been here.
Not long ago.
And they hadn’t been in good shape.
I stayed where I was, slowly scanning the surrounding hallway again.
The distorted furniture.
The towering ceiling.
The crooked symmetry.
And now-
A trail of dried blood leading deeper into the estate.
“…Well.” I muttered quietly.
“That’s not ominous at all."
I followed the trail.
Carefully.
The droplets were small-barely more than specks scattered across the marble floor.(Specks are very tiny spots or particles. The sentence means the blood drops were extremely small, almost like little dots of dust.)
If I hadn’t been looking for them, I might’ve missed them completely.
They weren’t thick smears.(A smear is a wide mark made when something wet is dragged across a surface. The sentence means the blood wasn’t spread across the floor, only small drops were falling.)
Just tiny drops.
Dot… dot… dot…
Like someone had been moving quickly while trying not to slow down.
Running.
Bleeding.
I walked slowly down the hallway, keeping my eyes trained on the floor so I didn’t lose the trail.
The estate remained eerily quiet.
No footsteps.
No movement.
Just the faint echo of my own breathing.
As I moved deeper into the building, I started noticing something strange.
“…Where are the rooms?”
In Sylvarius’s estate, there should’ve been guest rooms along this section of the hall.
Several of them.
Doors spaced evenly along the walls.
But here?
Nothing.
Just long stretches of wall and the occasional decorative table or cabinet placed in slightly crooked positions.(A stretch here means a long continuous section. The sentence means there were long parts of wall with nothing on them.)(Crooked means not straight or properly aligned. The sentence means the furniture was slightly tilted or positioned unevenly instead of neatly straight.)
No doors.
No bedrooms.
I frowned slightly.
“…That’s wrong.”
Either this estate had been designed differently…
Or whoever built it had only copied certain parts of the layout.
My eyes dropped back to the floor.
The blood trail continued.
Still small droplets.
Still scattered.
Still heading forward.
Eventually the hallway opened into another room.
I slowed to a stop at the entrance.
“…Kitchen?”
A large kitchen stretched out ahead of me.
Counters.
Cabinets.
A sink built into the far wall.
At first glance, it looked like a normal estate kitchen.
But something about it felt off.
I leaned slightly against the doorway, thinking.
“…Wait.”
In Sylvarius’s estate…
Was the kitchen here?
Or somewhere else?
I tried picturing the real layout in my head.
The living room. The dining hall. The hallway paths.
But the more I thought about it, the fuzzier the memory became.
“…Wasn’t it closer to the living room?”
I wasn’t completely sure anymore.
Which was annoying.
The similarities between this place and Sylvarius’s estate were just close enough to mess with my memory.
Close…
But not identical.
I stepped inside the kitchen slowly.
The blood droplets continued across the floor.
But something else caught my attention now.
Near the sink.
A faint mark.
I walked closer.
“…Yeah.”
A handprint.
Smudged across the edge of the sink.
Dried red blood.
Someone had grabbed the sink while they were bleeding.
Probably to steady themselves.
Or maybe to turn on the water.
But the faucet itself looked dry now.
No stains in the basin.
No puddles underneath.
“…Why come here?”
If someone was wounded badly enough to leave a trail through the house…
Why stop at the sink?
Trying to wash the wound?
Trying to drink water?
Trying to clean something?
None of those answers felt satisfying.
And something else bothered me.
The trail ahead.
I looked past the sink.
The droplets continued deeper into the house…
But they were getting harder to see.
Fainter.
Less frequent.
“…That’s not helpful.”
If I kept following this direction, I’d probably lose the trail entirely.
Which meant I needed to try something else.
I turned around and walked back the way I came.
Back down the hallway.
Back toward the earlier droplets.
“…Let’s see where this actually started.”
My footsteps echoed softly as I retraced my path.
Eventually I reached a side door I hadn’t paid much attention to earlier.
Bathroom.
I pushed it open.
And immediately stopped.
“…Oh.”
A dark stain covered part of the tiled floor.
A small pool of dried blood.
Not huge.
But definitely more than the scattered droplets in the hallway.
I stepped inside slowly and crouched near it.
The edges had dried thick.(This means the blood around the edges became thicker as it dried. It shows the blood had been there for a while.)
Cracked slightly against the tile.(Cracked means the dried blood split into small lines. The sentence means the blood dried so much that it started breaking apart like dry paint.)
“…So this is where they stopped.”
Someone had come in here.
Bleeding badly.
Probably long enough for blood to gather on the floor.
Which meant they’d paused here for a bit.
Trying to treat the wound maybe.
Wrap it.
Stop the bleeding.
That would explain something.
I stood up again, looking toward the doorway.
“…Then they ran again.”
If they’d managed to slow the bleeding even slightly…
That would explain why the droplets in the hallway were smaller afterward.
Less blood escaping.
Which meant the person probably went:
Bathroom first.
Then kitchen.
Trying to find something.
Bandages.
Cloth.
Water.
Something useful.
“…Makes sense.”
At least, it was the most logical explanation.
But now that I knew this point in the trail…
I could try the other direction.
I stepped back into the hallway again.
Then began moving the opposite way from the bathroom.
Backtracking further.
And almost immediately, I noticed something.
“…Yeah.”
The droplets were bigger.
Not tiny specks anymore.
Actual drops.
Thicker.(Thicker means larger and heavier drops of blood.)
Darker.
More frequent.
Which meant this was closer to where the injury first happened.
Or where it started bleeding heavily.
I followed the growing droplets down the corridor.
Step by step.
The silence in the estate pressed in around me.
Eventually the hallway opened up into a larger area.
And there-
A staircase.
Wide.
Tall.
Leading upward.
I stopped at the bottom of it.
“…Huh.”
Something about it tugged at my memory again.
In Sylvarius’s estate…
Was the staircase here?
Or somewhere else?
I tried picturing the real one again.
The foyer.(A foyer is the entrance hall of a house or building, usually the first large space after the front door.)
The living room.
The entrance hall.
But my memory kept refusing to cooperate.
“…I really don’t remember.”
Which was frustrating.
Either my memory was worse than I thought…
Or this place was intentionally messing with the layout.
I am betting my memory is far worse. I never was a good student in remembering things easily.
Either way, the blood trail answered the question for me.
The droplets continued.
Up the stairs.
I looked up toward the second floor.
The steps disappeared into a dim hallway above.
“…Great.”
Exactly where the injured person had gone.
I adjusted the backpack on my shoulders.
My ribs twinged slightly as I straightened.(A twinge is a small sudden pain. The sentence means Val felt a brief sharp pain in his ribs when he moved.)
Then I placed my foot on the first step.
And started climbing.
Slowly.
Carefully.
I climbed the stairs slowly.
Each step creaked faintly under my weight, the sound echoing softly up the stairwell. The higher I went, the darker it became.
Not pitch black.
But dim.
The kind of dim where your eyes could still make things out-but every shadow looked a little deeper than it should.
When I finally reached the top step, I paused.
“…Huh.”
A hallway stretched out in front of me.
Straight.
Narrow.
Just one long corridor leading toward a single door at the far end.
No side rooms.
No branching paths.
Just a straight line.
That alone was strange enough.
But then I turned slightly-
And my eyes widened.
“…Oh.”
The word left my mouth quietly before I could stop it.
Behind me-
On the wall near the staircase-
There was a massive dent.
Not a crack.
Not a scratch.
A dent.
Like something-or someone-had been slammed into the wall with an unbelievable amount of force.
The plaster had caved inward, the surrounding stone fractured around the impact point.( Plaster is the hard white material used to cover walls. The sentence means the wall covering had been pushed inward like something hit it extremely hard. Fractured means cracked or broken into pieces. The sentence means something slammed into the wall so hard that the wall pushed inward and the stone around where it hit cracked apart.)
And beneath it…
The floor.
It was covered.
Dried blood.
A huge dark stain spread across the floorboards, far larger than any of the droplets I’d been following earlier.
It had pooled there.
A lot of it.
My eyes lingered on the spot for a few seconds.
“…Oh.”
That was all I said.
I didn’t really have anything else to add.
The scene spoke for itself.
Whoever had been bleeding earlier…
This was probably where the worst of it happened.
Or at least where they took the hardest hit.
I looked down the staircase behind me.
Then back at the blood.
“…They ran.”
That explained the droplets downstairs.
If someone had been smashed into the wall here hard enough to leave that much blood behind…
Then somehow managed to stand up afterward…
They probably ran down the stairs immediately.
Trying to escape.
Trying to survive.
Which would explain the trail leading toward the bathroom and the kitchen.
My gaze slowly shifted forward again.
Toward the rest of the hallway.
There was still more blood.
Not much.
Just a few small droplets leading further down the corridor.
And at the end-
The door.
Or what used to be a door.
“…That’s broken.”
Even from where I stood, I could see the damage.
The door had been shattered.
Wood splintered outward across the floor.(Splintered means the wood broke into many sharp thin pieces. The sentence means the door shattered and pieces of wood exploded outward onto the floor.)
The frame bent and cracked like something had burst through it violently.
Beyond the broken entrance, I could just barely make out the inside of the room.
Some things looked overturned.
Others looked smashed completely.
“…Office?”
That was my first guess.
From this distance it looked like some kind of study or workspace.
But the lighting in the hallway didn’t reach very far inside.
Everything past the doorway was swallowed in shadow.
I couldn’t see clearly enough to know exactly what had happened in there.
Which meant there was only one way to find out.
I took a slow step forward.
Then another.
My boots pressed quietly against the floor as I moved deeper into the hallway.
The faint blood droplets continued along the hall.
Leading straight to the destroyed doorway.
“…Alright.” I murmured under my breath.
“Let’s see what happened here.”
And I kept walking toward the ruined office.
I stepped through the broken doorway.
The room beyond was darker than the hallway, the light from behind me barely reaching the far walls.
At first all I saw were shapes.
Broken shapes.
Then my eyes adjusted.
And I stopped.
“…What the heck.”
In the center of the room-
A skeleton.
But not a normal one.
This thing was huge.
At least seven feet tall even while collapsed across the floor.
The bones were thick, dense, almost animal-like in structure. The ribcage alone looked massive-but it was completely wrecked(The ribcage is the group of ribs that form the chest and protect the heart and lungs. The sentence means the chest bones of the creature were very large and thick.). Several ribs were snapped inward like something had crushed them with overwhelming force.(Ribs are the curved bones in the chest. The sentence means the chest bones were broken and pushed inward as if something crushed the creature’s chest.)
My gaze moved upward.
The skull was split open.
Cracked almost perfectly in half.
But even broken, it was obvious that it hadn’t belonged to a human.
The shape was wrong.
Longer.
Wider.
And the jaw…
I crouched slightly to get a better look.
“…Teeth.”
Rows of them.
Serrated.
Dozens of jagged teeth lining the jaw like a saw blade.
Even dead, the thing looked terrifying.
“…Yeah.” I muttered quietly.
“Definitely not a person.”
My eyes moved across the rest of the room.
And that’s when I noticed the blood.
A huge dark pool had dried across the wooden floor near the skeleton.
But it wasn’t just one color.
Two different stains mixed together.
Red.
And black.
I stared at it for a moment.
“…So.”
A creature.
And someone else.
Both bleeding.
Both here.
Which meant-
Someone had fought this thing.
And judging by the skeleton…
Someone had won.
“…Huh.”
That part surprised me more than I expected.
Whoever had been running through the estate earlier-the one leaving the blood trail-had apparently managed to kill a monster like this.
Impressive.
Very impressive.
My attention shifted to the rest of the office.
Or what used to be an office.
The large desk near the center of the room had been smashed apart.
One side of it was completely split open like something had slammed into it.
Bookshelves that lined the walls had collapsed, dumping dozens of old books across the floor in chaotic piles.
Wood fragments and torn pages littered every corner of the room.
Then something else caught my eye.
A display case.
Or at least what used to be one.
Glass shards covered the floor where it had stood.
The frame was twisted and broken, like something long had once been mounted inside it.
A weapon maybe.
A staff.
A spear.
Something important enough to display.
Whatever it had been…
It was gone now.
“…Someone took it.”
Which probably meant the person who fought the creature had grabbed it during the fight.
Or right after.
My eyes drifted back toward the broken desk.
Something metallic glinted among the wreckage.
I walked over and brushed aside a few scattered papers.
A polished service plate sat half-buried beneath the debris.
Probably meant to identify the office owner.
I picked it up and wiped some dust off the surface.
Then I read the name engraved on it.
“…Vemmora.”
I blinked.
Then read it again just to make sure.
Vemmora.
Not Sylvarius.
My grip on the plate tightened slightly.
“…Right.”
The succubus who killed me.
The one who blew a hole through my body like it was nothing.
My eyes slowly moved around the room again.
The office.
The estate.
The strange copy of Sylvarius’s home.
And now this name.
“…So in this version…”
Vemmora had lived here.
In an estate that looked suspiciously similar to Sylvarius’s.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
But that also meant something else.
Something I wasn’t going to say out loud just yet.
Because if my other theories were correct…
Then this place might hold answers...
And a lot more questions.
Way more questions.
I set the nameplate back down on the broken desk.
That’s when I noticed something else sitting nearby.
A small metal container.
Familiar shape.
I picked it up.
Turned it slightly in my hand.
And blinked.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Another film reel.
The exact same type as the others.
I stared at it for a moment.
Then let out a slow breath.
“…That’s the third one.”
First the bunker.
Then the cafeteria office.
Now here.
Three reels.
Which meant there was almost definitely a projector somewhere in this place.
And whatever these reels showed…
Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to scatter them across different locations.
“…Interesting.”
I slipped the reel into my backpack with the others.
Then looked around the ruined office again.
A dead monster.
A destroyed display case.
An estate belonging to Vemmora.
And now a third film reel.
“…Yeah.”
This place was getting weirder by the minute.
I put the film reel in my backpack.
I looked around the ruined office one more time.
Broken desk.
Collapsed shelves.
The shattered display case.
And the skeleton.
My eyes drifted back to the creature lying across the floor.
Seven feet of bones and jagged teeth.
Even dead, it looked dangerous.
“…Huh.”
A thought crossed my mind.
A strange one.
I crouched beside the skeleton again and examined the jaw more closely.
Those teeth were ridiculous.
Long.
Serrated.
Sharp enough that even dried and lifeless they still looked like they could tear through flesh without much effort.
“…Could these be useful?”
The idea sounded weird even inside my own head.
But the more I thought about it, the less ridiculous it seemed.
If these creatures were going to keep showing up behind doors…
Then maybe having pieces of one might help somehow.
Weapons.
Tools.
Something.
I reached out and tapped one of the teeth lightly.
It didn’t move.
Firmly attached.
“…Yeah, not exactly easy to remove.”
Breaking pieces off a skeleton without tools sounded like a great way to waste time and probably hurt myself.
Not to mention I had no idea if the bones would even be useful.
Or if touching them too much was a bad idea.
After a moment I stood up again.
“…Maybe later.”
If I survived long enough to come back.
For now I had bigger priorities.
I stepped out of the ruined office and back into the hallway.
The dim corridor stretched quietly in both directions.
The dented wall near the staircase still looked just as violent as before.
I walked toward it again, studying the damage more carefully this time.
The wall had caved inward where something-or someone-had slammed into it.
But as I got closer, something else caught my eye.
The wall beside the dent.
The surface looked… off.
Subtle.
But wrong.
The texture didn’t match the surrounding stone.
The pattern was slightly smoother.
Like someone had covered something.
“…Wait.”
I reached out and touched it.
My fingers slid across the surface.
Then tapped lightly.
The sound was hollow.
Not solid stone.
“…That’s fake.”
Curious now, I pushed against the panel.
It shifted slightly.
My eyebrows lifted.
“…Well that’s interesting.”
I slid my fingers along the edge and pulled.
The panel moved.
Quietly swinging outward.
And suddenly there it was-
A window.
I blinked.
Someone had hidden a window behind a false wall.
I stepped closer and looked outside.
And immediately my earlier theory was confirmed.
Ruins.
Rows and rows of ruined buildings stretched across the horizon.
Broken rooftops.
Collapsed walls.
Streets choked with debris.
The city of Daemina-
Or at least this version of it-
Was completely abandoned.
Destroyed.
“…Yeah.” I muttered quietly. “Figured.”
Still.
Seeing it with my own eyes made it real in a way the empty rooms hadn’t.
This place wasn’t just strange.
It was the aftermath of something.
Something very bad.
My gaze drifted downward.
Toward the estate grounds below.
The front gate stood at the edge of the property.
Tall.
Iron.
Bent slightly from age.
And then-
I froze.
“…What.”
My eyes locked onto the courtyard beyond the gate.
Creatures.
Dozens of them.
Standing in a loose formation across the road.
Pale bodies.
Different shapes.
Some tall.
Some hunched.(Hunched means their backs were bent forward instead of standing straight. The sentence means some of the creatures were standing in a crooked, crouched posture like predators or monsters.)
Some disturbingly thin.
Others bulky and twisted.
But they all shared the same thing.
Those eyes.
Black sclera.
White pupils.
At least forty of them.
Just standing there.
Silent.
Waiting.
My stomach tightened.
“…Why are they here?”
Then something else hit me.
One of them stepped forward slightly.
The shape.
The size.
The posture.
Recognition hit me instantly.
“…You.…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The same creature.
The one that chased me through the bunker barracks behind the first door.
The one that tore through rows of beds like they were paper.
It was standing among them.
My breathing slowed.
My mind struggled to process what I was seeing.
Why were they here?
How did they even get here?
Were they waiting?
Watching?
Then-
The creature moved.
Slowly.
Its head turned upward.
Directly toward the window.
Toward me.
My heart skipped.
“…No.”
The moment its eyes locked onto mine-
Something happened.
Every single pale creature moved.
All at once.
Forty heads snapped upward with eerie, unnatural speed.
Their black eyes locked onto the window.
Locked onto me.
A wave of pressure slammed into my skull.
“-!”
Pain exploded behind my eyes.
Sharp.
Sudden.
Like someone had shoved a spike of ice straight into my brain.
I immediately ducked down and slammed the window shut.
My hands grabbed my head as a violent throbbing sensation surged through it.
“…Ah-!”
It felt like blood was rushing upward.
Pulsing painfully through my skull.(Pulsing means beating or throbbing in repeated waves, like a heartbeat. The sentence means the pain in his head was coming in strong repeating beats.)
A heavy, crushing throb(A throb is a deep, rhythmic pain that comes and goes in waves. The sentence means a strong headache was forming behind his eyes and getting worse.) building behind my eyes as I clutched my head tightly.
The throbbing in my head got worse.
Heavy pulses slammed against the inside of my skull like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.(This means the pounding in his head felt so strong and unnatural that it seemed like another heartbeat inside his skull.)
I grabbed the side of the wall to steady myself, fingers digging into the floor as the pressure built behind my eyes.
“…Ow.”
My first instinct was simple.
Run.
Just run back.
Back to the door I came from. Back to the corridor with the five doors. Back to somewhere those things weren’t.
My body even started to turn toward the staircase.
Then I stopped.
Because the thought immediately twisted into another one.
How are they tracking me?
My grip tightened against the wall.
How.
How did they know I was here?
Forty of them.
All gathered at the gate like they had been waiting.
Like they knew exactly where I would appear.
Did they follow me?
No.
That didn’t make sense.
Do they have doors like the ones I go through that teleport me?
At least… I didn’t think they did.
Unless they did.
Unless something about this place let them move through it too.
My head throbbed harder.
How.
HOW.
The question looped in my mind again and again until it felt like it was physically drilling into my skull.
If they could track me once…
Then running back wouldn’t solve anything.
It would just delay things.
I’d open another door.
Walk somewhere else.
And eventually-
They’d be there again.
Waiting.
My head pounded harder.
A hot pressure spreading through my temples.
My thoughts started running faster.
Faster.
Spinning over themselves.(Spinning over themselves means his thoughts were moving so fast they were overlapping and confusing each other.)
Until suddenly-
A small sound slipped out of my mouth.
“…Heh.”
I blinked.
Then laughed again.
Just a little.
A short, breathy chuckle.
My hand slid down from my forehead as a strange smile crept onto my face.
“…Oh.”
That was weird.
Inside my own mind, a quieter part of me noticed something immediately.
You’re not thinking straight.
The observation was calm.
Rational.
Concerned.
The headache.
The impact earlier.
The stress.
Something about all of it was clearly messing with my head.
But the thought irritated me.
Annoyed me.
I exhaled sharply.
“…Yeah, yeah.”
I waved the thought away like an annoying fly.
“I know.”
But I didn’t want to hear it.
Not right now.
Not when my head already felt like it was splitting open.(Splitting open is a figurative way to describe extreme pain, like the head feels like it might break apart. It means his headache was so strong it felt unbearable.)
The rational voice kept trying to push forward again.
Trying to slow things down.
Trying to make me stop and think.
I cut it off. Coldly. "Just be quiet."
Suddenly-
“…Oh my.”
The words slipped out quietly.
I straightened up.
The smile faded from my face.
But the strange racing energy inside my head didn’t go away.
My thoughts were still moving quickly.
Jumping ahead of themselves.
Skipping steps.
But one idea kept rising above the rest.
If those things were willing to follow me…
If they were willing to gather like that…
Then that meant something simple.
There were a lot of them.
A lot.
Which meant-
“…There has to be a solution to that.”
I said it out loud.
Softly.
Like I was reassuring myself.
Then I turned and ran down the stairs.
My footsteps echoed through the empty estate as I reached the bottom floor.
I moved fast.
Hallway.
First door.
Locked.
Second door.
I shoved it open.
Empty room.
I stepped inside for half a second, scanning everything quickly.
Cabinets.
Walls.
Corners.
Nothing.
Back into the hallway.
Third door.
Fourth.
Fifth.
I started checking everything.
Every room.
Every closet.
Every storage space.
Opening doors quickly and scanning the interiors like I was searching for something very specific.
My breathing picked up slightly as I moved faster.
There had to be something.
This was an estate.
A large one.
Places like this always had systems.
Utilities.
Storage.
Equipment.
Something.
I moved from room to room, opening door after door, searching the interior of each one with increasingly sharp focus.
“There has to be something here…” I muttered under my breath.
Door after door.
Room after room.
I kept moving.
Closets. Storage spaces. Side rooms. Utility areas.
Most of them were empty.
Dust.
Broken furniture.
Shelves with nothing on them.
Every time I opened another door and found nothing, the throbbing in my head pulsed again, urging me to move faster.
There has to be something.
Another door.
I pushed it open.
Stopped.
For a second, I just stared.
Then my eyes slowly widened.
“…Oh.”
I stepped inside.
Looked around again.
Checked the corners.
Checked the walls.
Checked the floor.
Yes.
Yes.
It was exactly what I had been hoping to find.
For a moment I just stood there, staring.
Then something bubbled up in my chest.
A small sound escaped me.
“Heh-”
My hand flew to my mouth immediately.
“No-”
I covered it quickly, shoulders shaking slightly.
“No, no, no, Val…”
I muttered quietly through my fingers.
“How could you laugh?”
My eyes were still wide as I looked around the room again.
The grin kept trying to push its way onto my face.
“Don’t laugh.” I whispered to myself.
“It hasn’t happened yet.”
But the excitement was already there.
A strange, giddy energy building in my chest.(Giddy means excited in a slightly uncontrolled or nervous way. The sentence means Val felt a weird excited energy, almost like nervous excitement or thrill.)
My thoughts started racing even faster. Throbbing again.
The plan was forming.
Clicking into place piece by piece.
It could work.
It actually could work.
My hand slowly lowered from my mouth.
“…Oh.…Oh this is good.”
The grin spread anyway.
“Wow.”
I clapped my hands once.
The sound echoed softly in the room.
“How-”
Another clap.
“Absolutely-”
Another clap.
“Perfect.”
The word came out almost reverently.
I turned in a small circle, still looking around the room like I had just discovered buried treasure.
Then I laughed again.
Short.
Quiet.
But completely unable to stop it this time.
“Thank you.” I said softly, almost cheerfully.
“Thank you, Vemmora’s estate.”
I stood near the entrance hall.
Right in front of the massive front doors.
The estate was silent.
Too silent.
I rubbed the side of my temple again as another pulse throbbed through my head. The pressure hadn’t really gone away, but it was… manageable now.
Barely.
I exhaled slowly and looked toward the door.
Any second now.
My fingers flexed slightly at my side.
Then-
THUD.
The front doors shuddered violently.
The wood groaned under the impact.
Another hit followed immediately.
THUD.
Splinters cracked along the frame.
I took a step back, eyes widening.
My breathing picked up as I stared at the door.
“Ah-”
Another slam.
CRACK.
The lock gave way.
The doors burst open.
They poured inside.
Pale bodies flooding into the entrance hall.
Forty of them.
Different shapes.
Different sizes.
Every single one of them staring straight at me with those black eyes and white pupils.
Grinning.
Twisting.
Some drooling.
Some twitching.
Some just staring.
My breath hitched.(Hitched means suddenly catching or stopping for a moment.)
“-!”
I turned and ran.
My footsteps pounded across the floor as I sprinted deeper into the estate.
Behind me, I heard them.
Dozens of feet slamming into the floor.
Scraping claws.(Scraping means a rough dragging sound when something sharp moves across a surface. The sentence means their claws were dragging across the floor or walls, making a harsh scratching noise.)
Wet breathing.
They were fast.
Faster than before.
The pressure behind my eyes surged again as several of them focused on me.
A sharp sting sliced across my shoulder.
Then another across my side.
Invisible cuts tearing across my skin like something had raked through the air.
I laughed.
The sound slipped out before I could stop it.
“Ha-!”
Another pulse slammed into my skull.
My vision flickered.
But I kept running.
The creatures flooded down the hallway behind me, their eyes locked on my back.
Closer.
Closer.
I reached the spot.
Stopped.
Turned around.
They crowded the hallway now.
Bodies packed together.
Grinning.
Staring.
Some tilted their heads.
Others crawled forward across the floor.
One of them stepped closer.
Then another.
Their eyes focused harder.
More pressure slammed into my skull.
Another cut tore across my arm.
Blood splattered against the floor.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment.
Then opened them again.
And laughed.
A real laugh this time.
“Ha… hah…”
My hand reached into my pocket.
The small matchbox slid into my fingers.
Several of the creatures tilted their heads.
Watching.
I struck the match.
Chk.
The tiny flame flickered to life.
The warm glow reflected in dozens of pale, staring eyes.
I held it there for a moment.
Then looked at them.
“…Oops.”
I let the match fall.
It touched the floor.
For a fraction of a second-
Nothing happened.
Then-
WHOOOMPH.
Flames exploded outward along the floor.
A violent rush of fire surged through the hallway like it had been waiting for that exact moment.(Surged means to move forward suddenly and powerfully. The sentence means the fire spread extremely fast and forcefully through the hallway.)
The creatures froze.
Several of them turned their heads.
The smell hit immediately.
Burning.
Gas.
Fire spread rapidly across the wood and walls.
Climbing.
Hungry.
The creatures began to move again.
Some of them suddenly turning toward the fire.
Others looking back at me.
But I was already running.
Laughing.
“HAHA-!”
Behind me, the flames roared louder.
The entire estate beginning to ignite as the fire raced through the gas-soaked interior.
The creatures shrieked and scrambled as the blaze spread.
Some still chasing me.
Some trapped in the rising flames.
The heat intensified.
The air trembling with the building pressure.(Building pressure means pressure increasing more and more. The sentence means the heat and gas were increasing so much that it felt like the air itself was shaking before the explosion.)
I sprinted down the corridor toward the door I came from.
Toward the hallway with the five doors.
The laughter was still bubbling out of my chest as I ran.
And behind me-
The estate was about to explode.
I reached the door.
My hand slammed against the handle and I yanked it open.
Cold air rushed past me from the other side.
But before stepping through, I stopped.
And turned back.
The hallway behind me was chaos.
Flames were already devouring the walls and ceiling, spreading violently through the gas-soaked estate.(Devouring normally means eating something quickly, but here it describes fire. The sentence means the flames were spreading and burning everything very quickly.)
The pale creatures were still there.
Some twisted in the flames.
Some crawling forward.
Some staring.
Still staring at me.
I looked at them for a moment.
Then slowly smiled.
And clapped.
Clap.
“Thank you.”
Clap.
“Thank you very much for your cooperation.”
A few of them twitched.
Others tilted their heads.
Still watching.
Still focusing those horrible eyes on me.
I reached into my backpack and quickly pulled out a small vial.
The medicine went down in one quick swallow.
Warmth spread through my body almost immediately.
The cuts across my arms and torso stopped bleeding so heavily. The dizziness from the blood loss faded just enough for my legs to feel steady again.
“Ahh… much better.”
I rolled my shoulders slightly and looked back at them again.
“…You know.” I said thoughtfully.
“I think I understand your abilities a little better now. The risk was worth it. Thank you.”
The creatures didn’t move.
They just stared.
Watching me.
Watching my face.
Something about their posture had changed.
Something subtle.
Their grins weren’t quite the same anymore.
I waved cheerfully.
“Well then.”
“Bye-bye.”
I stepped halfway through the doorway.
But paused again.
Because something caught my eye.
The metal edge of the doorframe reflected my face faintly.
I glanced at it.
And blinked.
“…Huh.”
My reflection stared back at me.
Smiling.
Wide.
Too wide.
The expression looked… strange.
Joyful.
But something about it felt wrong.
Eerie.
Almost unsettling.
I tilted my head slightly.
Then looked back at the creatures.
They were staring at me differently now.
Their bodies tense.
Some of them leaning back slightly.
“…Wow,” I murmured. “The look on your faces was something amazing.”
I chuckled lightly.
“So creatures do feel fear.”
I tapped my chin thoughtfully.
“I’m sure I wasn’t that unnerving, was I?”
I shrugged.
“Ah, who cares.”
Behind them-
The fire suddenly surged.
The pressure in the air spiked.
“-Oh.”
I stepped fully through the doorway.
Just as the explosion erupted.
The estate detonated behind me in a thunderous blast of fire and collapsing stone.(Detonated means exploded violently and suddenly. The sentence means the whole building blew up in a powerful blast.)
The shockwave slammed into my back the instant I crossed the threshold.(A shockwave is the powerful wave of force created by an explosion. The sentence means the blast pushed a strong wave of force that hit Val and threw him forward.)
“-!”
The force threw me forward.
I hit the ground hard, sliding across the cold floor of the hallway.
The familiar corridor.
Five doors.
I rolled onto my back, the pressure in my skull flaring again as the echo of the explosion rang through my ears.
Then I started laughing.
“Ha-!”
My hands grabbed my head as another sharp pulse of pain shot through it.
“Ah…!”
The throbbing came back full force now, pounding behind my eyes as I lay there on the floor between the five silent doors.
Still laughing.
I lay there for a moment, breathing heavily.
The explosion still echoed faintly behind me, like distant thunder fading away.
Slowly, the laughter stopped.
My hands slid down from my head and rested on the cold floor.
Silence returned.
I pushed myself up slightly and looked around.
Just the same corridor.
And the five doors lined along the wall exactly where they had been before.
Closed.
Waiting.
I stared at them quietly for a few seconds.
Then rubbed my face.
“…What was that?”
My voice sounded hoarse.
I tried to think back.
The running.
The fire.
The laughing.
The way I talked.
The way I smiled at them.
My brow slowly tightened.
“…Why did I act like that?”
The memory of it made my stomach twist slightly.
That… wasn’t normal.
Not for me.
Not even close.
I leaned back against the wall and exhaled slowly.
“…Did the damage mess with my head that badly?”
The creatures’ eyes.
The pressure in my skull.
The headache that still hadn’t fully gone away.
And the memory of dying.
Actually dying.
Maybe all of that had done something to my brain.
Something I didn’t understand yet.
Because when I thought about what I’d just done…
It didn’t feel like me.
Not really.
I looked down at my hands.
“…I didn’t like that....or did I?”
The words slipped out quietly.
“…No. I don't know anymore.”
I shook my head weakly.
My eyelids were getting heavy.
The adrenaline was fading fast.(Adrenaline is a chemical your body releases during danger that gives you energy and alertness. The sentence means his body was calming down after the danger, making him suddenly feel very tired.)
Now all that remained was exhaustion.
And the dull ache in my skull.
I reached into my backpack again and pulled out another small vial.
The medicine slid down my throat quickly.
Warmth spread through my chest again.
Not strong.
But enough.
“…Just a short nap.”
I slid down the wall until I was sitting fully on the floor.
My head leaned back against the cold stone.
The five doors blurred slightly as my vision softened.
“…I’ll think about it later.”
My eyes closed.
And within seconds-
I drifted into a quick, exhausted sleep.
